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Family History/Early Cancer Link in Blacks

Posted on: Tuesday, 17 April 2007, 12:00 CDT

African-American women with a family history of breast cancer are three times as likely to have early breast cancer than other black women.

The familial risk of breast cancer is about the same for black women as it is for white women, but black women are more likely to develop breast cancer at a younger age and the cancers are often more aggressive, said Julie Palmer, professor of epidemiology at the Slone Epidemiology Center at Boston University.

Palmer said physicians should ask young African-American women about family history of breast cancer.

The risk is particularly high if an African-American woman has a mother or sister who was diagnosed with breast cancer before age 50, Palmer said at the centennial meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in Los Angeles

The risk associated with having a mother or sister with breast cancer has been well recognized for white women, but we have not previously assessed the family history risk for African-American women, she said.

Palmer analyzed results from 59,000 questionnaires from women who participated in the Black Women's Health Study.

Palmer discussed findings from the 59,000 Data from the Black Women's Health Study Sunday at this week's American Association for Cancer Research meeting.

Source: United Press International

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